Hallim Park
Address: 2487, Hyeopjae-ri, Hallim-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
How to get there
Depending on where you are staying in Jeju, journey times and routes will vary greatly. Just for ease, I will give you directions from Jeju International Airport.
By bus: There are few different buses that run between the Jeju International Airport and the park, but the quickest route is if you take the #102 express bus from Jeju International Airport bus stop number 4 and ride it for 5 stops, which takes about 37 minutes. Then get off at Aewol Transfer Bus Stop and take the #202 bus from there. Ride this bus for 28 stops, which takes about 29 minutes and get off at Hallim Park bus stop. This takes pretty much directly to the entrance of the garden so it's only a very short walk from the bus stop to the entrance. Please note that the #102 bus is pretty infrequent with it running only 10 times a day, so timing is crucial.
By car/taxi: From the airport it'll take around 50 minutes to get to the park. If you are taking a taxi, the fare will be at least 32,000 won.
Admission
The park is open from 9am to 6pm and last entry is at 5pm. An adult ticket will cost 15,000 won but there is a discount available if you visit in a group. When I purchased my ticket I was also given a 1000 won discount coupon which I could spend in the gift shop, which was a nice gesture. Actually I'll just take a moment to talk about the gift shop because I was quite impressed with the products they had on offer. Admittedly, many of them were the same or at least similar to what you'll find in the shops around some of the other tourist attractions, but I felt that there was a good range on offer. There were so many snacks including biscuits and chocolate, as well as handmade jewellery and cosmetic products, all made with local ingredients in Jeju. In my opinion, it's definitely worth having a look around before you leave.
The Park
The park itself is actually quite large so it might be worth taking a picture of the map you'll find at the entrance to help guide you. I think it's a great place to visit at any time of the year because there are several seasonal flowers and gardens. I visited in late summer/early autumn but I was surprised to see that there were still a few lotus flowers and waterlilies in the Water Garden. Here you'll also notice a manmade waterfall which is quite an impressive sight.
The map also shows an area that would be a must-visit location in the spring as it is dedicated to cherry blossoms, plum blossoms and even daffodils.
In the middle of the park you'll find the Bird Garden which has several small aviaries holding a small variety of birds, including peacocks and doves. You'll also find a few ostriches wandering around in their pens. In all honesty, I didn't particularly like this part of the park as I felt the aviaries were too small for the number of birds that were being kept inside them. If you follow the path up the hill from here you'll find the Folk Village. Here you'll see a restaurant that offers traditional food from Jeju so it might be worth stopping by. Unfortunately it was closed when I visited so I can't recommend any dishes in particular. The folk village itself is quite small so you can walk around the whole village in about 5 minutes. What's particularly interesting and perhaps unique about this folk village is that each of the buildings here is an original Jeju thatched house that has been relocated from other parts of Jeju and restored. As I mentioned, this is quite unique as unfortunately many of the historical and traditional buildings we see in Korea today had to be rebuilt at some point due to events in the country's history.
If you've visited other folk villages in Korea you might notice that the style of the buildings can change depending on where you are in the country. Traditional houses in Jeju have one significant feature that instantly sets them apart from others, and that is the roof. The thatched roof is actually woven which gives it a unique and pretty design. Another feature that I love about this folk village and just generally in Jeju is the thick, black walls built from volcanic rock. What can I say, I studied geography at university and became a geography teacher so I can't help getting a little excited when I see anything related to a volcano!
As you continue through the centre of the park you'll notice along the pathway that there are large camelia plants. Jeju is famous for camelias which bloom during the winter so I imagine this will look beautiful in a few months time. If you bear left here you'll find another gift shop and a small shop that sells refreshments and ice cream. It was so hot when I visited so I treated myself to a grape flavoured ice cream which I highly recommend. This area is also where you can pick up the Tropical Road Bus Tour which which costs an additional fee. This area is also home to the Stone and Bonsai Garden. I think there's something very peaceful about bonsai gardens as you can take time to appreciate the care and dedication it took to grow these beautiful trees. What I found quite amazing was how some of the trees in the park were over 200 years old, and the oldest was 300 years old. I often found myself contemplating how the world has changed during the time that these trees have lived, as well as thinking about all of the people who have cared for them and maintained them. If these trees could talk, I'm sure they'd have some interesting stories to tell. This part of the garden also has several rock sculptures as well as some old tree trunks which were preserved by a past volcanic eruption.
Perhaps one of the most interesting places in the garden is the cave system the runs under the park. There are three caves in total: Hwanggeumgul Cave, Hyeopjae Cave and Ssangyong Cave.